Monday, February 28, 2011

On the second floor our my house there is a very small room, or a very large closet. take your pick. Where for years we have been putting those items we use occasionally, like the good china, and Holiday decorations, over time this closet/room has also acquired some items that were put there.....well just because they were.

Might use that, might want that, might fix that, might finish that, might put that in a Yard Sale, but I never did. Now loaded up, some headed for the dump and someare headed for Goodwill. And truthfully a few things did get to stay, but most of the "might"s are either out in the car or soon will be.

Still pondering the memories that these items brought back, is good. Some outright make me laugh. A few are sad, some just crazy, as I wonder what I was thinking. It is fun to look back, especially on the home made Halloween costumes, that were worn around the house for weeks afterward, even though they are best described now as faded shreds of well used fabric. And that huge paper Easter Bunny, with his crooked smile and bright blue eyes, who presided over every egg hunt, now falling to pieces and truly beyond salvage this time.

Those things put here, which I told myself I fully intended to repair, repurpose or re-use. I didn't and I know that the reason was probably not so much lack of time but lack of motivation, even then.

I am not the person who looks back on these and says," I wanted to do this or that,but I never did."There are no regrets here. Only things that got left behind while I was off doing other things. May they all find loving homes.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Somehow I thought it would be a grander looking poem. much longer and filled with flowery prose. a Victorian Chocolate box of verse, dreamy allusions and complex rhymes and mythological references just swirling with beautiful phrasing.

But no, it is simply a straightforward. statement....like the wind itself.

POEMWho Has Seen the Wind?

by Christina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?Neither I nor you:But when the leaves hang trembling,The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?Neither you nor I:But when the trees bow down their heads,The wind is passing by.

For months now the wind has scoured the landscape and rattled the doors and windows, even slipping into this old house through every crack and pore. Though I never saw it, I heard it and felt it and even smelled it, it's strength made itself known to me. And soon by making my kites soar.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Ah, the moon is full, and surrounded by a halo of clouds, as you can see from the photos I just took. It is possible there will be a display of the Northern Lights tonight, but it will be difficult to see.

The full moon of February has been called the Wolf Moon, was hungry wolves prowled the woods looking for whatever they could find. Their hungry calls must have filled the air and left people feeling very glad to be indoors. Likewise it has been called the Hunger Moon, the provisions stored away from the harvest having dwindled. The Storm Moon and the Candle Moon which seem to go well together if you live in an area where every time there is a storm the power goes off, are also names for it.Sometimes called the Quickening Moon, unseen the earth is quickening under it's snowy blanket. A moon of new beginnings and hope for the approaching warmth of Springtime. I would love to break through the snows icy crust and see if I can find any green shoots beneath. but then if I didn't find any...........

Sunday, February 13, 2011

What a wonderful day, I awoke to the sounds of icicles crashing down.
True, there are still cold and blustery days ahead, the suns angle is higher and the cheerful rainbows cast by the prisms in my kitchen window are smaller, fewer in number, appear earlier in the day, and no longer shine into the interior rooms. The sun is warm on my face and hands, which always makes me think about the the auction I went to so many years ago, and stood for hours in the late February sun and never bought a thing...but got a sunburn! The sunshine, now being strong enough to warm up tree trunks, clothes poles and telephone poles and even foundations causing them to melt away the blanket of snow. swirled so snugly around them by the winter wind.
No it's not over yet, but the snow is melting off the roof and the eves drip like there is a rainstorm going on, and the air is thick with moisture. There is something new going on, sap is rising, and there are stirrings.

Today is also, purely by chance is Paternalia, the first day of the Roman Feast days remembering the dead, these end on the 21st, a day called Ferailia, which has some characteristics of Hallows Eve.

Where am I going with all of this, no where, just rambling on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoons were just made for rambling, and pancakes.

Monday, February 7, 2011

One of the first things I do when I go anywhere is to buy buy a local newspaper. I subscribe to two delightful local weekly papers, always the most fought over reading material in the house.They are not only pleasantly devoid of national news, I have 24 hour news channels for that. But they are remarkably relevant to everyday life. All the local happenings, festivities and notices. "hatchens' matchens and snatchens", all carefully reported and I though I don't always know the people being reported on personally, I recognize their names.There is always a bit of local history to read about and often wonderful photos of days gone by.I am always curious about the past, why was this place called Sugar Creek? What was the name of the town that left all of these foundation stones? what happened to the town that is now only a name on a map? There are the columns written by everyone from a retired English teacher( retired but not slowed down), a minister with a real flare for words, the Home Economist,and even the newspaper Editors them selves. Over the years I have come to know the families and the thoughts of these people, through their writing.And of course there are the tried and true recipes, which thought seldom healthy are always heartily enjoyed. The best part of this is that if you read a July issue in February, you don't really feel like its "old news" , it is more like a long overdue letter.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

It rained, it snow, it sleeted, and the wind blew and the temperature dropped. No fair weather in sight, on this Imbolic.

Candlemas or Imbolic being the day for new beginnings, the day when we venture out to see if it is time to waken from out winter stupors. Beginning to prepare to re-emerge into the warmth of a green and growing world, for me there are garden plans to make, may-be even a vacation to dream about. Certainly the warmth of the sun, and the sight of flowers, will be more than welcome after this perpetual winter.